2018 General Election Day Thoughts

You can still register to vote on Election Day in DeKalb County. If you are not yet registered (or not sure), if you recently moved and need to change your address, or if you don’t know the location of your polling place go here for information:

No matter what your political beliefs, we want to encourage everyone to VOTE. A democracy only works if everyone’s voice is heard. Even if your candidate doesn’t win, your vote still speaks to those in power and tells them that you are willing to show up to support candidates whom you feel best represent you. A vote today could lay the groundwork for candidates in the future who better represent your values and interests.

Here at DeKalb County Online, our goal is to inform, educate and sometimes entertain. We love and respect all of the people of DeKalb County, whether they are Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, or Independents. We have good friendships and working relationships with people on both ends of the political spectrum and want to keep it that way.

During our political coverage, we will try to give our readers as much information as we can to help them make informed decisions about candidates and vote for those who best reflect their interests and values. We will not endorse or support any candidates and will try to keep our reporting as balanced and objective as possible. In fact, if you ever feel that we are giving slanted or unequal coverage, please let us know.

This year, we had our first “Meet the Candidates” event in order to allow people to greet and listen to as many of the local, regional and state-wide candidates as possible in a comfortable and convenient setting. I would highly encourage people to attend these kinds of events, because there is no better way to determine how you feel about candidates than to hear them speak in person on a variety of topics and be able to ask them questions.

Everyone can look and sound good in glossy mailers and packaged sound bites, or in front of a roomful of people who already support them. But when you take away the safety nets and put candidates in front of a room of constituents from all political persuasions and with lots of different personal interests, you can see how knowledgeable and capable they really are.

Making people think on their feet by addressing often difficult issues can bring out the best and worst from candidates. That is a good thing, because you want to know if your politicians will be able to work with people who often won’t agree with them. Will they be able to win people over or at least address them in an intelligent and respectful manner, or will they just try to shut them down?

Finally, like many of you, we are disturbed by the negativity in political campaigns and the ridiculous amount of money that is being poured into a seemingly non-stop barrage of TV ads and political mailers. It seems like most politicians are running against Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Bruce Rauner or Michael Madigan, rather than against their actual opponents. Instead of addressing the issues that are most important to local residents, most of the time and money is spent trying to scare people away from their opponents by aligning them with some political bogeyman.

Going forward, however, no matter who is elected to represent the people of DeKalb County, government officials need to be held accountable. We need to make sure that they follow through with their campaign promises to the best of their abilities, that they fulfill the duties of their office in an honorable and ethical manner, and that they truly represent the best interests of their constituents—even if those interests are unpopular within their larger political party.

Originally from Arlington Heights, Stephen has called DeKalb County home for the last twenty years, as a resident of DeKalb, Sycamore and now Genoa.
For the last five years, he has been a freelance writer for Shaw Media, covering community events for the Daily Chronicle and writing articles for local niche publications like DeKalb County Magazine and the Genoa Area Chamber Business Guide.
Stephen is excited to serve as the new editor of DeKalb County Online, so that he can continue to cover all of the great people, places and events in this area.